Drive mechanism



' OctL'Z2 1:940 w. SCOTT 2,218,726

' DRIVE MECHANISM Filed Jan. 5, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. R19 YW. 50077 MWQMMY- M1 ATTORNEYJ 0a. 22, 1940. v w I 2,218,726

- DRIIVE'M'ECI-IANISMI; v I Filed Jan 5. 19531 :.3 She ets -'S he et 2 IINVENTOR. RAY W. SCOTT wamwm ATTORNEYS. 7

Patented Oct. 22, 1940 f PATENT OFFICE DRIVE MECHANISM Ray w. ScotLDetroit, Mich, assignor to Bendix Home Appliances, Inc., Detroit,Micln, a corporation' of Delaware Application January 3, 1938, SerialNo. 183,026 1 13 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism including parts operatedperiodically by continuously oper-- ating driving means, in. the natureof an escapement mechanism, and is illustrated as embodied ii in themaster control switch of an automatic washing machine.

An object of the invention is to providea compact and smoothly operatingmechanism which will require little power. for operation, so that it canbe driven by a small electric clock motor or the like. r

Another object is to provide mechanism of this character in which thegears are always in mesh, in spite of the fact that part of the gearsrun continuously and part of them intermittently.

An important feature relates to arranging the mechanism in a compactmanner in the housing of a washing machine switch or the like, and toproviding a. one-way device arranged to permit 39 the switch to besetforward'manually when 'desired withoutinterfering with the intermittent.drive or escapement. Y

These and other objects and features of the invention, including variousnovel combinations and desirable particular constructions, will be Iapparent from the following description of the illustrative embodimentshown in; the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a horizontal section through the switch, just'below the top'of the housing, show ates with a segmentalgear to time the periodicoperation of the escapement.

The particular switch illustrated is intended to 45 control an automaticwashing machine as,fully described in-application No. 129,429, filedMarch 6, 1937, by Rex Earl Bassett, Jr., and John W.

Chamberlin, but themechanism embodying the invention is capable ofvarious other uses than driving this particular switch,

The switch is illustrated as including a cupshap'ed housing Hi,- theopen end of which is closed by a flanged disk i2 frictionally pressed inplace, and which has a similar disk It pressed far 55 enough down toform an intermediate partition.

The disks i2 and i4 form part, of the switchaas- 'sembly describedbelow, and the housing It is 'pushed over this assembly as shown, toprovide complete protection for the mechanism.

Asmall constant-speed electric clock motor l6, s

22" secured thereto by posts 24, intermittently to drive a cam-shaft 26journaled in the plate 22 and the end disk l2, which are rigidly securedl6 together by posts 28.

The cam-shaft 26, as shown in Figures 1, 3, and 4, has mounted thereon aseries of edge cams 30 of insulating material, separated by'spacers 32,and keyed to the shaft 26 by lugs projecting go into grooves 34 in theshaft. Cams 30 are alternately large and small in diameter, and controlspring contacts 36 alternately secured to opposite sides of a bar 33 ofinsulating material, thus providing a compact assembly. Contacts 36 are26 urged yielding toward stationary contacts 40, thus closing thevarious circuits unless the contacts are separated by the cams. 3li. Thebar 33' The most important features of the invention 35 'relate to thedrive or escapement mechanism,

shown arranged between the disk It and the plate 22, and which drivesthe cams 30 or other suitable device intermittently from acontinuously-operating source of power such as the pin- 4 ion i 8,preferably in a manner permitting the switch to be advanced or setforward manually when desired.

In the arrangement illustrated, the shaft 26 with earns 36 is turned onerevolution for each cycle of the-washing machine, and unless manuallyset forward to shorten the washing step of the cycle it may require 45minutes to an hour for one complete cycle. Thus a long time is requiredfor a single revolution of the camshaft, yet contacts 3640 are openedand closed rapidly during the periodic movements of that shaft.

-The pinion i8 is shown (90 out of place in Figure 4 but ,in its correctposition in Figure 2) as driving a large gear 60 pressed on a shaft 62to drive that shaft. The shaft 52 also has a small pinion 54 pressedfrictionally in place thereon beside the gear 55. Loosely sleeved ontheshaft 52 beside the pinion 54 is a pinion 56, to one end of whichisrigidly riveted a carrier such as a stamping 58. L

The carrier 58 at one end has attached thereto the outer end of a spiralclock spring 65 which surrounds the pinion 54, and the inner end of iwhich interlocks with one of the, teeth of pinion, 54 as shown in Figure6. A washer, may be pressed onto the pinion 54 to hold thespring 55laterally.

The other end of the carrier 55 carries a shaft 64 rigid with a quadrantor/segmental gear 55 meshing with the pinion 54. 'One end of the shaft54 is flattened across a diameter of .the shaft to" form an eccentricmovable stop .55. The stop 55 is engageable with a flxed'stop such as alug 15 formed on a bracket 12 carried by disk l4 (Fig-, ures 4 and 6). fy g I The eccentric stop 55 engages the lug 15 in the position of Figure6, then the segmental gear 55 is driven by pinion 54 to turn the stop 55through 90, at the same time tensioning the spring 55, whereupon thestop 55 slips oil the \lug. Spring 55 then turns the carrier 55 throughe revolution, during which-time the segmental, g er." rolls on thepinion 54 back to its initial position so that the flat side of stop 58re-engages the lug 15 at the end of the revolution. 1

This operation turns thepinion 55 through one revolution. This pinionmeshes with and drives a gear 15 rotatably journaledon a shaft 15between two pinions 55 and 82 pressed non-rotatably thereon. The gear 15carries two resilient pawls 54, shown as stampingsjiavinglugs seated inslots in the gear. These pawls/ engage the pinion 85, which serves as arack thus forming a one-way drive connection, so it at the gear 15' willdrive the shaft 15 when turned by pinion 55 as described above, althoughshaft 15 can be advanced manually when' desired without turning the gear15 or the pinion 55. I

-The pinion 52 of course turns with the shaft I5 and pinion 55, andmeshes with and drives a large gear 55 riveted to a hub 58 secured onthe cam-shaft 25 by a set-screw or the equivalent; when assembled in thewashing" machineas described in the above-identified Bassett andChamberlin application, the lower end of the camshaft 25 in Figure 1 isprovided with an inr dicator (not shown herein) which traverses asuitable dial or scale, and which can be grasped by the operator toadvance the camshaft 25 manually, as permitted by the one-way drive85-84.

In operation, the clock mechanism drives continuously at a constantspeed all of the parts from .the clock up to and including the pinion54. The pinion 54 drives the segmental gear 55, at the same timetensioning the spring 55, until the eccentric stop tripsand slides oilthe stationary stop 15, whereupon the spring 55 drives the pinion 56through one revolution.

' Normally I prefer to time the parts so this occurs once each minute,so that pinion 56 may be regarded as driven intermittently at an averagespeed of one revolution per minute.

This slowly advances the camshaft 26, which is intended to turn throughone revolution for each cycle of the machine controlled by the switch.If the washing step of the cycle, for example, is to be shortened in anyparticular case, this is readily accomplished by advancing the camshaft26 manually, as permitted by the one-way drive 55-54. At the end of onerevolution of shaft 25, one of the cams 35 opens the circuit of theclock motor I5, stopping the drive until the camshaft is advancedmanually to close this motor circuit again to start the next cycle.

While one embodiment has been described in detail, it is not myintention to limit the scope or the invention to that particularembodiment, or'o therwise than by the terms of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

,1. Drive mechanism comprising a pivotally supported carrier connectedto a gear and having "mounted thereon at one side of its axis asegmental gear connected to an eccentric stop device which is turned byangular movement of the segmental gear, a continuously driven gearmeshing with and driving at times said segmental gear, a drive springfor said carrier tensioned by said driven gear during angular movementof the segmental gear, a stationary stop holding the agrier byengagement with the eccentric stop /w ile the segmental gear is beingdriven, the

segmental gear being arranged to turn the eccentricstop, out ofengagement with the station- ,ary stop at the end of the segmental gearmovement to permit the carrier to tum' one revolution'and he "eccentricstopbeing turned during such revolution back into position to re-engagethe stationary stop at the end of said revolution, and driving meansdriven by said first gear during the revolution of the carrler'and whichin-' cludes a one-way drive device permitting the driving means to .beturned forward when the carrier is stationary. x

2. Drive mechanism v comprising a pivotally supported carrier havingmounted thereon at one side of its axis a segmental gear connected to'an' eccentric stop device which is turned by angular movement'of thesegmental gear, means driven by rotational movement of said carrier, acontinuously driven gear meshing with and driving at times saidsegmental gear a drive spring for said carrier tensioned by said drivengear during angular movement of the segmental gear,- and a stationarystop holding the carrier by engagement with the eccentric stop while,thesegmental gear is being driven, the segmental gear being arranged toturn the eccentric stopv out 'of engagement with the stationary stop atthe end of the segmental gear movement to permit the carrier to turn onerevolution and the eccentric stop being turned during such'revolutionback into position'to re-engage the stationary stop at the end of saidrevolution.

3. Drive mechanism comprising a pivotally supported carrier connected toa gear and having mounted thereon at one side of its axis a segmentalgear connected to an eccentric stop device which is turned by angularmovement of the segmental gear, a continuously driven gear meshing withand drivingat times said segmental gear, a drive spring for said carriertensioned by said driven gear during angular movement of the segmentalgear, a stationary stop holding the carrier by engagement with theeccentric stop while the segmental gear is being driven, the segmentalgear being arranged to turn the eccentric stop out of engagement withthe stationary stop at the end of the segmental gear moveand drivingmeans driven by said. first ge r durdriving mechanism, a rotary memberconnected to drive said mechanism and carrying at one side of itsaxi'san eccentric stop member movable about its 'own axis, a drive spring forturning said rotary member, means for turning said stop member andsimultaneously tensioning said spring, and a stationary stop engaged bythe eccentrically movable stop when it is in one position to hold saidrotary member and which is cleared by the eccentrically movable stop inan other position to permit the spring to turn the rotary member, theeccentrically movable stop being turned by said turning means back tosaid one position during rotation of the rotary member.

5. A device of the class described comprising driving mechanismincluding a rotary member, a stop eccentrically mounted on said memberfor movement thereon about its own axis, a stationary stop engaged bysaid first stop when in one position and cleared thereby when in anotherposition to release said rotary member, a spring arranged to rotate saidmember when so released, and continuously driven means for turning thefirst stop from said one position to said other position andsimultaneously to tension said spring, said continuously driven meansbeing constructed and arranged to turn said first stop back to said oneposition during rotation of said member.

6. A device of the class described comprising driving mechanismincluding a rotary member, a stop eccentrically mounted on said memberfor movement thereon about its own axis, a stationary stop engaged bysaid first stop when in one position and cleared thereby when in anotherposition to release said rotary member, a spring arranged to rotate saidmember when so released, and continuously driven means for turning thefirst stop from said one position to said other position andsimultaneously to tension said spring, said spring being a spiral springanchored at its outer end to the rotary member, and said last meansincluding a continuously driven part at the center of the spring andanchored-to the inner end of said spring, said continuously driven meansbeing constructed and arranged to, turn said first stop back to said oneposition during rotation of said member. I

7. A device of the class described comprising a shaft, driving mechanismincluding a member rotatably mounted on said shaft, a pinion fixed onthe shaft, a spiral spring anchored at its outer end to said member andanchored at its inner end to the shaft and pinion,a segmental gearmeshing with said pinion and pivoted on the rotatable member somedistance from said shaft, a part connected to be turned by the segmentalgear and having rigid therewith a stop which is eccentric with respectto its axis of movement, and a stationary stop engaged by the eccentricstop in its position when the segmental gear is at the beginning of astroke and cleared by the eccentric stop at the end of the stroke of thesegmental gear to permit the spring to turn said member on the-shaft.

8. A device of the class described comprising a shaft, driving mechanismincluding a member rotatably mounted on said shaft, a pinion fixed onthe shaft, a spiral spring anchored at its outer end to said member andanchored at its inner end to the shaft and pinion, a segmental gearmeshing with said pinion and having a shaft carried by the rotatablemember some distance from said first shaft, the 'end of the second shaftbeing-cut away at one side to form a stop which is eccentric withrespect to the axis of movement of the-second shaft, and a stationarystop engaged by the eccentric stop in its position when the second shaftis in one angular position and cleared by the eccentric stop in aposition 90 further around to permit the spring to turn said member onthe sahft through one revolution.

9. A device of the class described comprising continuously-operatingdriving means, a rotatable driven member, a spring drivably connected tosaid driven member, a rotatable member driven by the driving means andcarrying a stop turned as said rotatable member is driven from oneposition where it holds the driven member while the spring is tensionedto another position in which it releases the driven member to be turnedby said spring, means operated by the driving meansfor tensioning thespring, and a stationary part engaged by the stop when in said oneposition and cleared by the stop when in said other position.

10. A rotary-motion translating-device, including in combination, asubstantially-constantlyrotating driving-member, anintermittently-rotating driven-member, resilient coupling-meansoperatively interconnecting the said drivingmember with the saiddriven-member for effecting the movement of the latter by the former, astop-abutment; a rotary latch-member releasably engageable withthe saidstop-abutment, and operatively connectedlatch-releasing means with boththe said driving-member and the said rotary latch-member for turning thelatter out of engagement with the said stop-abutment to release the saiddriven-member for rapid movement by the said resilient coupling-means.

11. A rotary-motion translating-device, including in combination, asubstantially-constantly-rotating driving-member, anintermittentlyrotating driven-member, a spiral energy-storingcoupling-spring operatively interconnecting the said driving-member withthe said driven-member for moving the latter, a stop-abutment, a rotarylatch-member releasably engageable with the said stop-abutment, andlatch-releasing means operatively connected with both the saiddriving-member and the said rotary latch-member for turning the latterout of engagement with the said stop-abutment to release the saiddrivenmember for rapid movement by the said spiral energy-storingcoupling-spring.

12. A rotary-motion translating-device,includingincombination,asubstantially-constantlyrotating driving-trainincluding a toothed member, an intermittently-rotating driven-member,resilient coupling-means operatively interconnecting the saiddriving-train with the said driven-member for effecting the movement ofthe latter by the said driving-train, a stop-abutment, a toothed sectorpivotally carried by the said intermittently-rotating driven-member andengaged with the teeth of the toothed member of the said driving-train,and a latch-member carthe said driven-member and operatively connectedto the said toothed sector for being moved thereby out of engagementwith the said stopabutment to release the said driven-member for rapidmovement by the said resilient couplingmeans.

13. A rotary-motion translating-device, including in combination, asubstantially-constantlyrotating driving-train including a toothedmemher, an intermittently-rotating driven-member, train, and alatch-member carried'bry the said resilient coupling-means operativelyintercondrlven-memberand operative]! connected-tome necting .the saiddriving-train with the said drlvsaid toothed sector-tor moved therebyout en-mein'ber for eflectingthe movement or the of engagementwith'the-fsald stofp ahutment to letter by the former. a. stop-abutment,a. toothed release the, said driven member tor rapid move- 5 sectoi'plvotally carried by the saidintermittentlyment bythesaid-'resflient'couplinz-imeans. I rotating driven-member and engagedwith the -RILY'WQ8CO'1'1I teeth 0! the toothed member or the saiddriving- Pa.ten t No. 2,218,726.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

. Oct'eber a2, 191m. RAY w. -scoT'r.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the prihte d epec ificationof the above numbered patent requiring'correction as follows: Page 5,sec-- ond cclumn,'line 10, claim 8, for "ea-11ft" read --shaft-'--; line66, claim lZQfor'the syllable "cal read --'-carried by"; end'that theSaid Lett'ere Patent ahould be read with this correction therein thatthe same may conform to the recorder the case in the" Patent Office.

signed and sealed this 25th day of February, A D. 19111. I

- -,Henry Van Ars dale,

(Seal) Acting Commissioner cf Patents.

